NEW YEAR, NEW LOOK, AND A NEW VISION

Good morning, everyone! This blog is officially back from the holidays. I hope you all had a great time, whether you spent it with friends or family. It's finally 2021, and I for one wish that this year is better than the previous. It looks like things will get as back to normal as they can get. Even an introvert homebody like me can get sick of rarely spending time away.

As it's a new year, I decided to change the look of Ivan's Insights. It definitely looks a lot better now. The header is now my favorite shade of blue, rather than the newspaper-like white I had before. Also, the posts now contrast from the background. They look almost like sheets of paper now, which looks nice and fitting for my blog. I admit I didn't think it was possible to make a blog this good-looking with Blogger. I'm familiar with Wordpress and its themes, most of which are better than Google's. Blogger has impressed me now, though. I'm pleased with the new look of Ivan's Insights.

STATUS UPDATE: A FEW CHANGES ARE COMING FOR MY BLOG

Good morning! I’m here with a new update. These past few weeks, all I’ve been posting are book reviews. They’re supposed to go live on Wednesdays and Fridays. I’ve been preoccupied lately, so I’ve missed some of those Friday posts. A couple of weeks ago, I applied to a tech-related job. It seemed just what I was looking for. I’m in charge of technology at my house, so being a computer technician would greatly suit me. I got the interview and have been waiting to hear back. Unfortunately, it appears I didn’t get the job. I haven’t heard back from the employer. I thought I’d aced the interview, even though my tech skills are a little rusty. I confess I didn’t expect to find a job like that in my city anytime soon. That’s why I’ve put a bit more focus on my language and proofreading skills this year. 

Lately, I’ve been spending more time looking for work. Options are limited in my town, so I’ve looked at some other cities in Texas. Georgetown, Round Rock, and The Woodlands have caught my eye. They’re all medium-sized cities within driving distance of major cities. Austin and Houston have way more job openings per week than my town. I’ve been job-searching long enough to make the rough calculation. Also, they’re much, much better cities than where I currently live. I would move right away if I could get a job within the first couple of weeks.

Due to my new endeavor, I’m putting less priority on tech-related blog posts. For the time being, my focus will be language and book-related posts. I might still write tech-related articles, but they won’t be a main topic anymore. One reason for the change is that I’ve realized something about myself over the time I’ve had this blog. I’ve found that despite being highly knowledgeable in technology, writing articles on the subject doesn’t come very easy. I think it’s because my knowledge is mostly practical. I learned about tech so I could fix and maintain devices, not so I could write articles. It appears that being tech-savvy doesn’t mean one can write a lot of content.

That’s it for now. I’ll continue posting new articles every Wednesday and Friday. Meanwhile, I’m continuing to look for a job. I’m eager to return to work. Being at home all day sounds nice on paper, but in reality it’s not very appealing. One needs purpose, and to do something that matters. I really hope I can find work this summer. Anyway, until next time. Bye!

BEST REASONS TO START LEARNING FRENCH

Photo by Léonard Cotte on Unsplash

Good morning, everyone! Today’s post is about the French language. I’ve written a few posts on the topic already. They’ve been about language learning in general. Today, I decided to focus on French. It’s the first language I learned after English and Spanish (both of which I’ve known from childhood). Four years on, I believe I can converse in French without much difficulty. I’m not sure, as I haven’t met any French speaker yet. At least I can understand French movies without needing subtitles.

My knowledge of French isn’t limited to the language itself. I like the culture as well, and its history. I find the latter fascinating. France is also a beautiful and popular country. It’s my favorite European country, in fact. There’s a lot to like. Below, I’ll give some excellent reasons why you should pick French as your next language:

CONSEILS A CONNAITRE AVANT DE VOUS ENSEIGNER UNE LANGUE ETRANGERE

Avez-vous déjà rêve de parler une nouvelle langue ? Peut-être vous avez entendu un personnage dans un film parler une langue différente. Ou vous avez trouvé un ami qui parle français ou polonais—par exemple—and vous étiez curieux. Est-ce difficile d’apprendre une autre langue ? Parlant trois langues, ma réponse est que l’apprentissage des langues prend de temps. Ce n’est pas exactement difficile. Rester engagé dans l’apprentissage peut faire une grande différence. Ci-dessous, je vais vous donner des astuces pour vous aider a démarrer. Ces astuces proviennent de ma propre expérience. Je ne suis pas un expert, mais je sais ce qu’il faut pour réussir. Alors, voici mes astuces :

TIPS TO KNOW BEFORE TEACHING YOURSELF A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

Have you ever dreamed about knowing a new language? It could be that you heard a movie character speak a different tongue. Or you made a new friend who speaks French or Polish—for instance—and now you feel curious. Is it difficult to learn a language on your own? As a trilingual, my answer is that language learning is more about time than difficulty. Staying committed to learning can make a big difference. Below, I’ll provide a few tips to get you started. These tips come from my own experience with language learning. I’m not an expert by any means, but I know what it takes. Here they are:

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO ACHIEVE LANGUAGE FLUENCY?

Photo by Craig Adderley from Pexels

One of the questions first-time language learners ask themselves is how long it will take to become fluent. That question has several variables. How much time per day will you dedicate to studying? Is it necessary to learn a different alphabet first? What is your definition of fluency? All these factors influence the amount of time you’ll need to master a new language.

To start with, what does fluency mean? For some, it means being comfortable enough with a language to converse without much difficulty. For others, fluency is being able to hold any conversation just like a native speaker. Others will consider themselves fluent if they can pass an official language test. Neither of these answers are inherently wrong. What’s important is your goals and motivation. Whatever “fluent” means for you, focus on attaining that level. Keep in mind that languages are a means of communication. You should learn a language so you can speak to other people, not so you can pass tests.

7 BENEFITS OF LEARNING A NEW LANGUAGE

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

These days, it’s easier than ever to teach yourself something. Learning materials are quickly accessible, from YouTube videos to books and smartphone apps. You can go school (or college), but it’s possible to teach yourself certain subjects at home. The only hard decision is choosing what to learn.

One subject you can study that will have positive effects on your life is a foreign language. It doesn’t matter which one you pick. Learning a second (or third) language has various personal, professional, and cognitive benefits. And it’s something that you can definitely learn on your own. Having a teacher helps, but it’s not indispensable. Learning a new language doesn’t have to be a major time commitment, either. Experts agree that even 30 minutes of active learning per day go a long way. If you can spare time to peruse Instagram and Facebook, you can spare time to learn something. Here are 7 benefits of learning a new language:

LES CHOSES QUI ONT INSPIRÉ MON APPRENTISSAGE DES LANGUES

Image par Tessa Kavanagh de Pixabay

Hello! This is the French translation of my post from last Friday. I will be doing this with future blog posts as well. I intended to start with my post on Windows computers, but I'm not familiar with tech terms in French. That means I'll only translate some posts that aren't tech-related.

Bonjour ! Je suis de retour avec ce dernier post du mois. J’ai pas toujours écrit un post sur les langues, donc j'ai décidé de couvrir ce sujet. C'est l'un des trois sujets principaux de mon blog. Aujourd'hui je vais écrire sur mon parcours d'apprentissage des langues et comment j’ai commencé. Je ne vais pas offrir des astuces tout de suite. Ça sera réserve pour des articles futurs.

THINGS THAT INSPIRED MY LANGUAGE LEARNING JOURNEY

Image by Tessa Kavanagh from Pixabay

Bonjour! I’m back with my last post of the month. I haven’t written a language-related post, so I decided on that subject. This is one of the three major topics of my blog. Today I’ll write about my language learning journey and how I got started. I will not provide tips yet, at least not explicitly. I’m reserving that for future posts.